Abstract
An experimental study is conducted to investigate flow characteristics on a small axial-type turbine which is applied as the rotating part of air tools. It operates in a partial admission due to consumption restriction of the high pressure air. In this operating condition, it is necessary to understand flow characteristics for obtaining the high specific output power. Tested turbine consists of two stages and the mean radius of flow passage is less than 10mm. A 6 bar pressure air is used to operate the turbine. The experimental results show that flow angles depend on the measuring location along the circumferential direction, but its discrepancy is alleviated along the axial direction. Absolute flow velocities show three times difference according to the measuring location at the exit of the first rotor due to the partial admission, but they show similar value at the exit of the second rotor by the velocity diffusion. From the measured flow angles and velocities, a ratio of output power obtained by the first and second rotor is estimated. It shows that the output power obtained by the second rotor is about $11\%$ to that by the first rotor at 60,000 RPM. It is effective therefore to improve the first rotor for increasing the turbine output power.